New Manchester united manager Jose Mourinho will be at the helm of yet another summer of change for the club, as the two-time Champions League winning manager will look to get rid of squad players who do not fit into his plans at Old Trafford.
After two years of Louis van Gaal tinkering with the squad and completely overhauling the Manchester United team, they fall into another period of chopping and changing as Jose Mourinho arrives. The Portuguese manager’s tactics and style of play are very different from those of the Iron Tulip, and as such he will adjust the squad to fit his needs and that means that many first team players could be sold off this summer to accommodate some new faces at Old Trafford.
Here are five players whose future at Manchester United look bleak with the arrival of the special one.
1. Juan Mata
The first and most obvious name that springs to mind is Spanish midfielder Juan Mata. The 28-year-old hardly featured for Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, even though he had won the player of the year award at the club for two seasons in a row. He was eventually sold off to David Moyes’ Manchester United in January 2014.
Mourinho didn’t rate Mata highly because of his poor defensive work. Although the Spaniard is an excellent play-maker and attacker, he does not track back enough to defend and his defensive work-rate was a major issue for the Portuguese, who builds his success around strong defensive performances from the entire team.
Given their history, the midfielder could well be the first player Jose Mourinho intends to ship off to another club.
2. Adnan Januzaj
The 21 year old winger has not featured much for Manchester United under Louis van Gaal. After his breakthrough season under David Moyes in 2013-14, he was used sparingly by Van Gaal in the next season and was barely used at all this past season. Januzaj is considered to be a promising player, but Jose Mourinho doesn’t have the best track record of nurturing and developing young talent.
The likes of Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Tim Fosu-Mensah will definitely have to be kept at the club by Mourinho if he wants to avoid public disapproval. This means that young players who haven’t performed this season would be looking at the exit door if Mourinho has his way, and Januzaj unfortunately falls into that category.
3. Memphis Depay
Another young player who hasn’t had a great season is Dutch winger Memphis Depay, who has been in the news more for his flashy lifestyle than his football. The 22-year-old had a huge burden of expectation on him after completing a £25 million move from PSV to Manchester United last summer but has failed to impress, scoring only two Premier League goals and becoming a fixture on the bench for most of the season.
Depay may be one of the most highly rated young players on the planet, but Mourinho doesn’t have room for any ego in the team apart from his own. Depay’s poor defensive work, highlighted by his role in a stoppage time equalizer by Chelsea in January, could also influence the Portuguese manager to sell him.
4. Daley Blind
Daley Blind has been the surprise defensive mainstay for Manchester United this season. The Dutch midfielder has played alongside Chris Smalling as center-back all season as Louis van Gaal’s insistence on a left-footed central defender put him in a first team berth game in and game out.
Although Blind has put in some respectable performances in that position, the Manchester United defence has banked more on David de Gea’s genius than the prowess of their back four. Jose Mourinho prefers a more physical central defense pairing, and Blind is unlikely to get the nod if the manager brings in a specialist centre-back.
This would make it very difficult for the Dutchman to get into the team, given United’s midfield riches, and Blind could well try his luck elsewhere and leave on mutual consent.
5. Victor Valdes
This is one player who wasn’t going to last at Manchester United even if Louis van Gaal had stayed. Signing on an 18 month deal in January 2015, Valdes since had a bad bust-up with the manager which saw him omitted from first team training and leaving on loan to Belgian side Standard Liege.
His hopes of a new manager extending his stay evaporated when Mourinho was confirmed as the new boss. In the 2009-10 Champions League semi-finals, the then Barcelona keeper shockingly tried to manhandle then Inter manager Mourinho as he celebrated his side’s victory on the pitch. It is unlikely that the two time Champions League winning manager has forgotten this indiscretion.
Valdes’ contract expires at the end of June and the 34 year old goalkeeper will probably never be spotted near Old Trafford ever again.
